


The Curious Case of the Klutz

by OptimisticEmotion



Series: Curious Case [1]
Category: Young Justice
Genre: Clumsy Robin, Funny, Not really crack but close, There really isn't much to this, the Penny Drops
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-13
Updated: 2016-11-13
Packaged: 2018-08-30 20:21:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,675
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8547847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OptimisticEmotion/pseuds/OptimisticEmotion
Summary: There's a new villain that uses sonic technology to cause their victims to temporarily lose their more delicate hand eye coordination. This tends to lead to some rather embarrassing situations, such as Batman leading Robin by the arm into Mount Justice, sitting him on the couch, and ordering him to just. not. Move!





	

It was pretty boring in the cave that day. All silence and nothing to do. Not that anyone really felt like doing anything. Wally was sitting on the couch flipping through the channels, on his fifth round through, next to Artemis who sat on the floor checking her arrows, for the fifteenth time that afternoon. Conner was just sitting on the chair adjacent from them just staring off, not really thinking of anything really, Wolf laying at his feet. Megan was leaning against the counter in the kitchen with a cook book in front of her. She wasn't even really reading it.

The only ones absent were Aqualad, who was in Atlantis with his king, and Robin, who was in Gotham with Batman. Or was.

"Recognize Robin b01, Recognize Batman 02." the Zeta Tubes let the heroes in, both in full costume. Batman hand a hand on Robin's shoulder the whole time as he lead, almost dragged, the boy to the couch on the other side of Wally. He then practically threw Robin into the seat and made a pointed gesture with the hand that was previously holding him.

"Stay. Don't Move. I'll be back." He growled before he left out the Zeta Tues.

Everyone paused what they weren't doing and looked at Robin.

"Um. Hi guys?" Robin gave a small smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Um, what was that?" Artemis asked.

"What was what?" Robin asked, playing dumb.

"Why did Bats drag you in here and dump you on the couch just before getting the heck out of here as fast as he possibly could without running?" Wally asked this time.

"Oh, that. Um. Long story. It's nothing really. He's just being grumpy." Robin sighed before he stretched his arms and folded them behind his head. However the boy misjudged the distance between his elbow and the glass lamp next to him, and it fell to the ground, where it shattered. He jumped slightly and looked to the others in apology. "Um, ops?"

"Aren't you usually the graceful one?" Conner asked from his chair.

"W-well, I'm only human." Robin chuckled slightly. "Here, I'll clean that up." He offered. He went to stand and tripped on his own feet, almost falling into the pile of broken glass. Only to be caught the last second by Megan's telekinesis.

"Dude! Don't kill yourself!" Wally exclaimed jumping to his feet.

Robin blushed a bit. The moment Megan put him back on his feet, he sat himself back down on the couch and pulled his knees to his chest. "Okay, so Batman has a pretty good reason to be a bit grumpy." He sighed.

"Care to expand on that?" Artemis asked, well, more growled, but Robin nearly gave her a heart attack with that little stunt of his.

"Well, it started when Br- Batman woke up to the alarm this morning. It was a weird time for a Gotham villain to act, but he got me and we went to check it out anyway-..."

* * *

"Robin the gargoyles are a bit slick from the rain," Batman started before glaring at the boy, "so stop showing off before you slip and kill yourself."

"Pfft, fine." Robin laughed a bit as he did a back hand spring from the goyle onto the roof top, next to Batman.

"What did I just-"

"Who's that?" Robin quickly changed the topic before he got yelled at. It worked cause Batman looked over to see a man in a full black outfit that looked like he watched too much 'Terminator'. He had something that resembled a gun, but when ever he pulled the trigger all that came out was a high pitch squeal. Robin thought he saw something strange about the air in front of it though. He looked closer and sure enough, the air was moving, like a heat wave, the gun had to be doing something to cause it.

"Sonic energy." Batman said, as if reading his mind.

"How do you know?" Robin asked.

"It was either that or a heat ray, and as the gun isn't putting of a heat signature, that leaves only one thing left." Batman never explained these things like Robin was an idiot, he would explain them as Robin was learning. Something that Robin was grateful for. Though sometimes he could tell Bruce had to force himself.

Robin gave a slow nod of acknowledgment just before his attention snapped in the direction of the new baddie. He had just broke the building! HOW?

"Sonic energy, when concentrated enough, can destroy almost anything. Ever hear of breaking glass with a scream?" Batman said as he shot a grapple, he was about to kick some butt, Robin could tell.

"Okay, that's actually kind of cool. I wonder what good things it could be used for?" Robin thought out loud as he copied his mentor and they both swung down to the fray.

"BATMAN!" The Bad guy shouted as he turned to face them.

"Well, you know our names, but we still don't know your's. This is going to get awkward fast." Robin smirked as he landed next to the Dark Knight.

"I am Sonic- erm Sonic- ator?" The bad guy stopped to think about it. The two heroes immediately acted in the man's hesitation. But he was paying just enough attention to quickly get out of the way of their combination attacks. He then turned the dial on his sonic gun and shot it at the two of them. Batman dodged, Robin got sent to the building right behind him by a huge pressured force, across the street. And it hurt. A lot.

"Come on, help a guy out here. I don't have anything to go by!" The villain ran into the bank he had broke the wall of earlier.

Robin picked himself up and shook his head a bit. His ears were ringing from the hit. He saw Batman chase the guy into the bank and he soon followed.

"You could always try 'Generic Bad Guy One'?" Robin quipped joining the fight yet again.

"Hmm, I like that. Except, it's got nothing to do with my sonic tech." The guy replied as he kicked Robin in the gut while shooting Batman in the stomach, sending both away from him. He then moved to change the dial on the back of the gun and shot at the vault. It crumbled in a matter of seconds.

"'Generic Sonic Bad Guy One'?" Robin offered in a grunt as he got up again. He looked over to Batman and couldn't find him. Damn, already on point probably.

"Yeah! I like it, well not the last bit. But Generic Sonic! I'm the Generic Sonic! It even rhymes!" The guy changed the dial and sung around to shoot at Robin who was already running to attack him. He gave one good blast and Robin flew out the hole in the wall they used to get _into_ the bank. Ow.

"Now that you're taken care of, where's _Daddy_?" Generic Sonic asked looking around for Batman. Robin pulled himself up in time to watch Batman fall from the ceiling on top of Generic and knocking the gun out of his hand. He was quick to cuff the man's hands behind him before he pulled him to his feet.

"Aw man. I was so close too." Generic Sonic whined.

"You alright, Chum?" Batman asked Robin. Robin nodded a bit. He stood and dusted himself off. That sonic blast thing, yeah, his new least favorite way to be attacked. His bones were already aching.

"Sorry about you're extremely short career, Generic." Robin smirked.

"Yeah, because all bad guys have only that _one_ weapon." Generic Sonic drawled, right before the Heroes heard a high pitched wail from his gloves that sent them both flying. Damn, what is with this guy? That was the fourth time he got Robin with that. Twice he's gotten Batman, that's actually kind of impressive, but more to the point, Robin was now starting to feel the pain.

"Now, how to keep you from following me?" Generic Sonic asked before looking over to Robin. "Oh! I have an idea! Did you know that Sonic waves can be a largely destructive force _or_ a just a small coaxing one?" The man asked as he picked up his gun and changed the dial. Robin looked to Batman, he was pinned in a bit of rubble the fell from that last boom. He'd be a moment. Robin tried to get up, but his arms just didn't want to move. Not good, a lot of not good. Generic Sonic pointed the gun at him and Robin could tell this was a perfectly aster moment.

"Keep Batsy busy for me for a while, will ya Robbie?" Generic shot the gun and all Robin could see was white for a good solid minute, which was strange as the gun didn't shoot light of any kind, just sound.

"Robin!" Batman must have gotten free from the rubble and was on his way over. But Robin could feel hands on his shoulders already? But Batman was still on the other side of the room, right? That's what it sounded like. He blinked the white out of his eyes and the images were blurred badly. He tried to focus and saw Batman in front of him. His mouth was moving but sound took a second to catch up. It was like watching a movie that not only had really bad lag, but the images would wave around and go all funky every few seconds.

"Batman?" Robin asked as he tried to sit up. He swayed a bit as he did so. He put his hand down to steady himself, but the debris that he thought was there to set his hand on wasn't and he ended up falling to his side like a klutz. He yelped a bit in his startle and righted himself again. The mess of his senses was making him nauseous. "I think I need to get back to the batca-"

"Robin we need to get you back to base." Came half way. Robin looked up to Batman to see the concerned look on his face. He probably said that a moment ago. He saw Batman sigh before he heard it, and by then the man had already picked up the teen and was carrying him back to the batmobile. He didn't even hear it come- and there's the sound that he should have heard. This was getting annoying fast.

He could feel Batman dump him in the passenger seat of the car, but could barely understand what he was seeing. It didn't help that he was only now hearing the door _open_ and suddenly it was closing. He tried to reach for his seat belt but couldn't find it. He looked and he could almost see it, as well as two others, but he couldn't figure out which one was his as he tried to grab for each of them.

Batman's gauntlets, or at least the real one and the two that Robin was seeing, reached over and pulled the belt around the boy. He heard the a new sigh as it dragged over his body.

The ride home and getting out of the batmobile were just as eventful. Robin could barely stand up right much less walk in a straight line, so he of course fell on his face when stepping out of the vehicle. The Batcave was filled with plenty of dangerous items, so he wasn't too surprised when Batman lead him to his seat in front of the computers and sat him down. Robin heard the order to "Stay" But he couldn't tell when it was said. His senses decided that change was good and so now sound would sometimes come when it was made and sometimes not for a few seconds later. His eyes were making better progress though, as he was back to only seeing one thing of anything, but the images would blur or ripple randomly, not to mention some things would seem farther than they were, and sometimes closer.

"Generic Sonic was once a man named 'Joey Cardinal' he was an engineer for Lex Corp when there was- Will you stop that?" Batman glared over to Robin.

"Stop what?" Robin asked.

"You're spinning in your chair." Batman growled. The reply came immediately so sound was caught up then.

"It's never bothered you before." Robin argued.

"You weren't so badly disoriented before. I'm worried you'll- do _that._ " Batman sighed. Robin picked himself up from the floor where he fell out of the spinning chair. He was reminded of the aches in his body from getting thrown around with repeated sonic blasts.

"Okay, I get it. Sit down and sit still. right?" Like he needed the confirmation.

"Yes." Was grounded out through Batman's teeth. Robin dusted his back off while taking a step toward his chair. Doing this at the same time was a bad idea, as he wasn't really focusing on either and tripped. His flailing arms that tried to catch him just sent his chair rolling across the cave and hit a table with a batch of Bruce's projects on them, one of which was hanging slightly off the table and fell to the floor when the whole table was jostled. Apparently the item had a laser in it that, as it bounced, went off a couple times, acting like a blaster from Starwars. One of the things it managed to hit, was the giant penny that Batman had on display in the Cave. The angle of the blast hit the base just right that the thing rolled a bit. This put the Penny off balance and caused it to fall almost flat on the other displays. The crash shook the entire cave a bit, sending the bats flying as well as a few isotopes. One big one landing squarely on top of the Batmobile, leaving a large spider web crack in the windshield and a huge dent in the top and hood.

Robin just stared at the whole thing with wide eyes. He managed to look over at Batman who, for the first time _ever_ , sat with his mouth open and a disbelieving look on his face.

Yeah, that had to be a whole new level in the 'Robin Mess Ups' book. Robin waited patiently for Batman to finish letting what just happened sink in.

* * *

"So after single handedly destroying the batcave I've kinda been grounded here." Robin finished his story and looked at the faces of each of his friends. Each of them wide eyed and gapping mouth. Much like Batman when the penny dropped. He almost wanted to laugh at the pun, but this wasn't the time.

"So right now Batman is trying to find this 'Generic Sonic' while you regain your senses?" Wally asked.

"Yeah. I'm already feeling a lot better, but, he doesn't want to run the risk." Robin sighed.

"Maybe I could help?" Megan asked as she finished cleaning the glass lamp up. She had been working on the mess through the whole story, Conner had even jumped in to help her. He was holding the trash can.

"I think it's more 'hardware' than 'software' that Generic messed with." Robin sighed.

"Um, what?" Megan looked confused.

"He means it's his actual brain itself got damaged not the mental state of his mind." Wally explained, translating Robin into regular English for the class.

"Oh. I see." Megan gave a small smile. "Sorry I can't help there."

"It's fine Megan, it's clearing up anyway." Robin smiled back.

"So you want to try excersising your coordination?" Artemis asked.

"I don't think moving about would be any good for my health." Robin gave her a smile in thanks for the idea.

"I was talking about video games. Isn't that the lame excuse most kids give their parents for playing them?" She asked.

"Yeah! Dude! We could so play that new Ninja Monkey's game I got yesterday! Hold on, I'll set it up!" Wally immediately went to work setting up his playstation and popping in the game. Before Robin could say anything, a controller was in his hands and a matching on in Wally's hands as the red head sat next to him.

"Video Games for health purposes, this has to be a new low." Robin snickered.

"Here, I'll get some lunch ready, it's almost noon." Megan offered as she and Conner made their way into the kitchen.

* * *

An hour later the boys got bored with Wally kicking Robin's still disoriented digital butt, and so had started to do the campaign instead. Robin was steadily getting better at reacting appropriately and they could all tell. But then the situation changed when the team was called into the debriefing room.

"What's up?" Wally asked as he was the first to enter the room. The rest of the team followed. Robin wasn't his usual graceful self, but he was defiantly able to walk a straight line now. Given, he had to watch his feet as he did so and Conner had to steer him a bit when he about ran into something.

"We have a possible location of the Brain." Red Tornado spoke. He along with Black Canary and Green Arrow stood around the holographic computers. While Red Tornado spoke, Robin felt a wave of nausea and saw as everything tilted and sound started to lag again. He tired not to show anything but he must have started swaying or something, cause everyone was watching him now.

"Robin, are you okay?" Green Arrow asked.

"Uh-y-yeah, just a bit disoriented." Robin muttered.

"Still? You were just getting better." Wally pouted.

"It must be a relapse from the video games." Artemis said, trying to think why Robin was finding it difficult to stand again.

"Video games?" Black Canary rose a brow.

"He got attacked by some guy in Gotham that messed up his hand eye coronation and Batman brought him here for us to babysit." Conner explained. Though none too sweetly for Robin. Whom was now glaring at the clone for that last part.

"I see." Black Canary replied.

"Well then, looks like Robin's sticking to Base." Green Arrow decided. The other heroes agreed and Red Tornado went on with the case files.

* * *

Robin was sitting cross legged on the living room floor playing Ninaja Monkey's alone when Aqualad came in.

"Where is everyone?" Kaldur'ahm asked.

"They are on a mission." Robin answered, not looking away from the game. He still managed to lose a life, unable to talk and concentrate at the same time.

"Why are you not with them?" Kal asked a new question.

"I'm currently- gah, darn it." Robin paused the game and then faced Kal. "I'm currently a field hazard." He stated.

"And how is that, may I ask?"

"Well-" Robin began explaining the story, abide with less detail than the first time. Kal nodded slowly as he understood.

"So you are playing video games to attempt to work your mind back in proper order?" Kaldur asked.

"Yeah. It was working for awhile too, but it's just not sticking I guess." Robin sighed.

"You could try art as a replacement? I've heard in Atlantis that some would strengthen their coordination by creating something delicate." Kal offered. Robin quite the game, it was getting frustrating anyway.

"Sounds good to me." He stated as he got up. stumbled a bit, and made his way to the side table by the couch were a note pad and pen had been stashed. It was something they've each taken a turn doodling on when bored. He set it down on the coffee table and got to sketching. He could feel Kal watching over his shoulder as he worked, neither of them having anything better to do.

He tired his best to draw a little bat, putting as much detail in it as he could, but something was just not working right about it.

"It is not as neatly made as some of your previous work." Kaldur admitted over his shoulder when Robin picked up his pen to look at it. 'Not as neatly' was an understatement. Robin might not be an artist, but this looked like a four year old drew it with their toes!

Robin sighed. He put the pen down and set his head upon his knees. So while he was getting better, he wasn't quite there yet.

"Do not lose hope my friend. Nothing comes without time, if you work through this, I am certain that you will get your coordination back." Kal patted Robin shoulder. Rob gave his friend a small smile before he picked up the pen again and this time tried to draw the image on the cover of Wally's game. Baby steps is sometimes the best way to go.

* * *

The team came back to see Kal and Robin working on a puzzle.

"Okay, what?" Artemis asked, gesturing toward the two.

"Game got boring." Robin explained in three words.

"And the paper?" Conner pointed to the batch of scribbles scattered on the floor.

"Robin told me of his problem, I suggested he try to create something to help." Kal took his turn to answer.

"And the Puzzle came after that because?" Wally drew out the last word of his question.

"Cause I suddenly can't draw worth crud and it was getting frustrating." Robin muttered as he placed another piece into it's spot.

"How many times have you put that puzzle together?" Megan asked. Robin didn't want to know how she knew this wasn't the first time.

"Three." He answered as he put the last piece in place. "Four." He corrected himself.

"That's got to be boring." Artemis said.

"I can't think of anything else to do." Robin sighed.

"We could play Baseball?" Conner offered. Everyone looked at him. "What? Get a soft ball and a soft bat so he doesn't hurt himself."

"Now that's just demeaning." Robin gave a tight smile to Conner.

"How did your mission fare?" Kaldur asked, changing the topic.

"Bust." Wally sighed landing on the couch as he spoke. "The factory was empty, the whole thing was a goose chase."

"I see." Kal nodded.

"I wonder why the league thought he was there to begin with?" Robin asked.

"The top of the building had a giant brain painted on it in graffiti." Megan sighed. "They might have thought he was there because of that?"

"Even they aren't that dumb." Conner muttered as he sat down. He probably didn't mean it the way he said it, but it was amusing all the same.

"I'm thinking they knew we were bored and made up a little task for us to do." Artemis grumbled as she sat next to Robin, helping him and Kaldur put the puzzle back into the box.

"Well, it's not like they haven't before." Wally stretched his arms over his head before lacing them behind it.

"Recognize Batman 02." The Zeta tubes sounded off. The team looked up at him.

"Robin." Bats called for his son. Robin got up as slowly as he could trying not to fall over, and made his way to Batman only stumbling once on the way. He felt very proud of himself.

Batman looked over the mess the boy had left and frowned. Robin could tell he was weighing taking Robin home that instant and making the boy clean up after himself while he could still potentially kill himself by accident. The other's must have noticed too as they each quickly grabbed a bit of the mess and tossed it into the waste bin, effectively cleaning the living room in five seconds or less.

Robin gave them a smile to thank them and followed Batman to the Zeta's.

Upon getting home, he saw that some of the mess from before had been cleaned up by Alfred. The giant Penny was cleaned _around_ of course.

"So how grounded am I?" He asked as he followed Bruce to the computers, where Generic Sonic's gun was sitting.

"It was an accident. There really is no two ways about that." Batman sighed. "I did a small bit of research, and I found the proper frequency to undo the damage Cardinal caused."

"Cardinal? Oh! right his real name." Robin remembered. Only a few baddies got Batman to call them by their villain names, and it was usually cause it took Bats a while to find out what their identities are. By that time he'd gotten use to saying their name such as Catwoman, Ivy, Joker, and Mr. Freeze. Others like Dent and Wesker were out of luck.

"I _can_ reverse it, but I figured I'd leave it up to you wither or not you want me to try." Batman threw Robin through another loop.

"Wha-?"

"There is a possibility that I could be off, even if by a fraction, and it does seem that you could retrain your body to it's previous grace. But that would take years, and dunning that time, you will be benched." Batman explained. "No missions, no team, and no Robin."

Robin let this sink in. If Batman messes this up, there are a list of things that could go wrong. But the long way around, by the time he has his coordination back, there is no knowing what about the job would have changed. Wither or not he'd even be of any use. He weighed the options and Batman waited quietly as he did. They both knew how important this decision was.

"Do it." Robin decided.

"You understand what is at risk here, don't you?" Batman, no, Bruce asked him. There was a difference in the man's voice. It wasn't concerned like a mentor. It was worried like a father. Robin had to smile at that.

"Everything." He nodded. Bruce looked at him for a long moment before he nodded as well.

"Alright then. You may want to take a seat for this." He warned. Robin sat himself in his chair and made himself comfortable. Batman took the gun and aimed it at his Robin, his son, and pulled the trigger.

* * *

"So he blasted you with the sonic gun?" Artemis looked up at him from the floor, she was currently in her civves and looking at him like he lost his mind.

"Yup." Robin answered, playing on the tight rope in the mountain's gym.

"And it worked?" She continued. He knew she wasn't really asking as much as just letting the information sink in.

"Yup." He answered anyway, moving to do a handstand on the rope, showing off.

"And you aren't even phased in the _slightest_ with the fact that you could easily have become a vegetable as much as gotten healed?" That one _was_ a question.

"Nope." Robin smirked at her as he relaxed his hands enough to let gravity push his legs down, with which he began spinning around the rope, only stopping with his legs straight up in the air again. This was an old routine of his mothers, it was fun.

"Uh-hu." Artemis said, she didn't believe him. He could tell. Then again she wasn't really hiding it either.

"Want to play Ninja Monkey?" He asked, smiling. Artemis smiled back.

"I think I'm good. But thanks." She shook her head and walked out of the gym. He spun around the rope a bit again and this time let go, flipping in the air twice before landing on his feet. Yeah, his coordination was back. But Artemis was right, he couldn't help but feel a ghost over his shoulder of another scenario where Bruce was off by just a fraction and he was in a hospital bed where no one ever expected him to get up from it. He shivered and exhaled. He needed to let that go. It's no different then what a lot of the job has thrown at him. He survived, and that was what matters.

"Team, Debriefing room, now." Batman called over the com. He smiled. Things were mostly back to normal.


End file.
